Bay Area | May, 2024
Hello May! We begin with the Office of Accountability’s monthly meeting, this time in person at Lindsey’s.
Two symphony date nights in a row! We stopped by Teakwood for delicious Burmese food before Wizard of Oz. The symphony plays the whole soundtrack to the classic movie starring Judy Garland.
The next day, the symphony played the soundtrack to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back!
Then, we really know how to pick them. First we signed up for the Kaiser Permanente race in February that got converted to a virtual run-it-yourself race when a huge storm with high winds and rain cancelled the event. Then we signed up for this “Our Heritage 5k” from Japantown through Chinatown, and it was on the one rainy day of the entire season. We ran it anyway, in the rain!
Very fun race. You can run or walk, and they have many different Asian American landmarks for you to stop at and get candy and other treats! The volunteers who helped run the race were all very nice, standing in the rain all morning for us.
I sadly discovered that my rain shell is not actually waterproof at all, but that’s ok. We made it and still had a good time.
A great way to warm our cold, soggy selves: lunch at the recently reopened 606, formerly known as New Sun Hong Kong Restaurant. It’s prominently located on the triangle between Columbus and Broadway at the intersection of North Beach and Chinatown. The next generation has now taken over from their aunt, staving off the restaurant’s impending closure.
After walking our second leg of the Crosstown Trail, we had dinner with the Valentes in their newly renovated home!
Brought one of our precious bottles of Pliny the Younger and my homemade sweet oolong ice cream for the occasion.
Followed by a couple rounds of mahjong, with the black tile set that Cassie won from my birthday.
Dinner with the Valentes again! So lucky. This time at our now-quarterly House of Prime Rib date. Always nice to have a quarterly review that involves a prime rib cart and unlimited sides.
Another date night, thank you Theresa for reaching out at the last minute with the invitation! It’s the CAAMFest opening gala at the Asian Art Museum. Friends, food, fun fete.
Then we got a special preview of the new “‘Say Hey’ Experience,” a special exhibit about Willie Mays across the street from Oracle Park.
It’s a lovely, compact gallery packed with projector screens and special collections around the perimeter.
The funny thing is that this used to be a Toto showroom, and you can see that the Toto toilets are still there and operational, haha. With all the projectors in the four bathrooms showing images of all four home stadiums of Willie Mays’.
This all takes on an added layer of significance since Willie Mays just recently passed away at the age of 93, two days before the Giants and the MLB honored him and the Negro Leagues in a game at his original stadium, Rickwood Field, home of the Birmingham Black Barons and very close to Mays’ birthplace in Birmingham.
Then, after the Taiwanese American Cultural Festival, my mom arrived in town for a couple weeks! We took her to a baseball game for Mother’s Day. I let her represent her town, the Cincinnati Reds, who happened to be the visiting team.
SFMOMA with my mama.
Saying hello to James and Alex from outside the ballpark, haha. They just installed a new TV screen out on the port walk so that people walking by and in kayaks in McCovey Cove can also watch the game.
Brunch at RH — I wouldn’t actually recommend eating here, but it’s fun to walk around the pretty restaurant and look at the overpriced furniture.
You also get a funny rooftop view of Crane Cove Park and Chase Center with peeks of the skyline from the top of RH.
It also happened to be announcement day for the Golden State Valkyries! The new WNBA team announced their name and branding, and they will be coming to Chase Center next year in 2025.
Dinner at Mestiza with the Valentes.
Lunch at the Japanese Tea Garden with my mama. I’d never eaten there, but it’s lovely! Very simple, loved it. Would do again.
Visiting the Lee Mingwei exhibit, Rituals of Care at the deYoung Museum. Really heartfelt, human, beautiful galleries. This one encourages visitors to read and write letters to those they care about.
I first saw The Mending Project in Boston at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Lee encourages visitors to bring clothing items that need mending, and volunteers staff the project to do the mending throughout the course of the exhibit.
Then we made our way over to Chinatown for dinner at R&G Lounge with Alex.
Symphony date with mama, seeing Joshua Bell perform.
Then we had dinner with the in-laws, celebrating my Father-in-law’s birthday!
Next, runners day at the Giants. With the Bay to Breakers mascot Ape Hashbury.
Block Party at Chase Center for the Valkyries! We’re already signed up for season tickets and are all in on these violet Valkyries! The team doesn’t even exist yet, but they’re coming next year!
More new and exciting things in San Francisco, the new food hall run by Ikea, Saluhall. Lots of local restaurants and vegan food featured, very good. I’ve already been back another time since.
The Giants won all three games against the Rockies, and we were ready! We brought our broom for the sweep, and we made it onto the big screen, haha. If you look past Camilo Doval’s high five you will see me waving my broom on the jumbotron.
Cupertino YUMS: my favorite beef noodle soup from Duan Chun Zhen. And the very delicious Earl Grey milk chocolate cookies from Batch 22.
Sunday Clement Street Farmers Market and lunch at the Pasta Supply Co.
Bucket hat day at the Giants. And a new addition to the ballpark food offerings: glove waffle cone ice cream in a helmet with Oreos. It’s very fun.
A special dinner at Aphotic!
Featuring guest bartender Austin Hennelly of Kato, the Michelin-starred Taiwanese restaurant in LA. They had my all-time favorite nonalcoholic drink pairing when we dined there. This time we came for the special menu of cocktails that they brought us, plus a full, delightful multicourse meal by Aphotic.
Special signing event with Giants first baseman and our best batter, Lamonte Wade Jr. at the Levi’s store on Market Street in San Francisco. Unfortunately Wade just injured himself two days before this event, but he was still able to attend! I got my Wade shirt signed for our Giants quilt that I’ve been working on.
Willie Mays Birmingham Black Barons bobblehead giveaway in honor of African American Heritage night, featuring a Stephen Curry appearance as well as Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is also from Birmingham and a friend of Willie Mays’.
It was a month filled with lots of baseball and local adventures in and around San Francisco! On to the next!
Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco. She compulsively documents and blogs all of her daily adventures. Follow her on instagram and view more of her professional work at annawu.com.
